Saturday evening in Hanner Fieldhouse was a wild one as Arkansas at Little Rock Trojans hoped to gain their fifth victory of the season against a Georgia Southern Eagles , who has been undefeated at home thus far. Eagles won 72-69.

The game went back and forth for a while in the second half, but at the end of the night it was Tookie Brown who sent the crowd home happy.

First Half

For such an exciting game to have been played, it started out rather slow. Neither team came out of the locker room on a roll, and after five minutes of play, Little Rock was up 6-2.

The Eagles were finally able to find their offense with a 7-0 run, forcing a timeout from Little Rock after an Ike Smith three-pointer. The Trojans were also able to find their offense, and by the time the first half was half way over, the Eagles were up 16-15.

The next five minutes showed outstanding play from GS on both sides of the ball, as they put together a 14-3 run. The run did not continue, and after an attempted Trojan three-pointer turned into a foul and two made free-throws, the Eagles led 37-31 at halftime.

Second Half

Both offenses clicked at the beginning of the half, with senior guard, Jake Allsmiller, putting up a quick five points to start the half. A few minutes later, Allsmiller, once again, started to heat up, adding another quick five points to the scoreboard.

Unfortunately for GS, missed opportunities and a controversial jump-ball call led to an 8-2 Trojan run, giving Little Rock a 61-59 lead. Fouls led to extra GS points, and after a clutch Mike Hughes three with the home crowd on its feet, the Eagles took the lead 66-65.

As the game came down to the wire, another controversial call came with 40.1 seconds left, leading to two successful free throws by Little Rock. Following a Trojan timeout, Cameron Corcoran made a tough shot to tie the game at 69.

@GSAthletics_MBB WITH THE LAST SECOND GAME WINNING POINT | Final Score : GS Eagles- 72 Arkansas State Trojans- 69 pic.twitter.com/BXHclFhVyx

— George-Anne Sports (@GeorgeAnneSport) January 6, 2018

With 18 seconds remaining and the ball in Tookie Brown’s hands, Coach Byington decided not to use his final timeout.

“Tookie, there’s not better person, I feel, to have the ball in his hands,” Byington gleamed.

Brown used a good step-back move to jostle his defender and delivered a dagger at the buzzer to secure the win in one of the most electric games that Hanner Fieldhouse has seen in recent years.

When asked if he thought his shot was in, Tookie humbly admitted that he “practices that shot a lot…so I knew it was going in.”

Five eagles finished with at least 10 points, including the game’s leading scorer and hero for GS, Tookie Brown who ended with 15 and Quan Jackson who had 14 points along. Mike Hughes also had an impressive showing, putting up 9 points and 6 boards. Montae Glenn was 1 point shy of a double-double, finishing the game with 10 rebounds.

What’s Next

The Eagles will travel to Conway, South Carolina to take on Sun Belt opponent, Coastal Carolina Thursday. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m.